Cover construction for electric irons



March 1950 B. E PARR 2,500,091

COVER CONSTRUCTION FOR ELECTRIC IRONS Filed March 8, 1946 2 Sheets-Sheet l Flal.

J WITNESSES: INVENTOR 9 W BERNARD E PRRR ATTORN EY March 7, 1950 B. E FARR 2,500,091

COVER CONSTRUCTION FOR ELECTRIC IRONS Filed March 8, 1946 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 ,f/IKIIIIIIIIIJ e VIII;

. a 29 INVENTOR BERNARD F. FARR J11 I ATTORNEY Patented Mar. 7, 1950 COVER CONSTRUCTION FOR ELECTRIC IRONS Bernard F. Parr, Mansfield, Ohio, assignor to Westinghouse Electric Corporation, East Pittsburgh, Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania Application March 8, ieia'seriai No. 653,013

2 Claims.

My invention relates to an electric iron, more particularly to the cover construction, and it has for an object to reduce the cost of manufacture.

In prior electric irons, the cover member is stamped to its desired shape and then, in order to give it a pleasing and attractive appearance, the top or outer surface of the cover member is usually chromium plated, polished and bufied. Due to the particular shape of the cover member, it is necessary that the polishing and bufiing operations be done by hand in order to acquire the proper luster over the entire outer surface. This particular operation is a major item of cost in the manufacture of electric irons.

My invention is particularly applicable to an electric iron having a cover member comprising top and sides, disposed between a soleplate and a handle member. The handle member has an integral skirt portion at its base so proportioned as to completely cover the top of the cover member. Thus, only the sides or outer portion of the cover member are visible and it is to this particular type of cover member that this invention is directed.

In accordance with my invention, I propose to manufacture the above-mentioned .cover member in two pieces which include a top portion and a side portion, and in order to produce a low cost cover member I provide a strip of flat sheet metal stock, one side of which has been nickel or chromium plated, polished and buffed to form an outer finished surface, and from which a plurality of side pieces orblanks may be stamped. This flat strip of sheet metal stock is one which has been polished and buffed to its proper finished luster, as by feeding the flat, preplated sheet through a polishing and buiiing machine. By feeding flat sheets through a machine of this type, large quantities of preplated metal may be polished and buffed without the use of special hand-operated tools and with a minimum of individual attention.

After the machine polishing and bufilng operation, the strip of finally polished sheet metal is fed into a stamping machine, and at this time the sides or outer portion of the cover member are cut out as a unitary flat plate or blank, the particular shape being determined by laying out a development of the cover member.

The fiat blank with its outer finished surface 2 is placed in any suitalble jig and bent to its desired form. Preferably, it is so formed that, after bending, its bottom edge conforms closely to the curvature of the soleplate and its top edge conforms closely to the curvature of the skirt portion of the handle. Tabs or lugs which were formed integral with the blank are bent inwardly to provide means for spacing and attaching a top plate. The top plate is so shaped that in the assembled iron it will be entirely covered by the skirt portion of the handle. This top plate is also a stamping; however, it is stamped from a relatively inexpensive material which provides good heat reflection, such as aluminum-coated steel or aluminum.

In assembly, the top plate is placed over the inwardly-extending lugs of the side portion and, when positioned properly, the top plate and side piece are attached together at the lugs to form a unitary structure. Thus, I have provided a reduced cost, finished cover member which does not require expensive hand polishing and bufling after shaping and assembly.

The above and other objects are effected by my invention as will be apparent from the following description and claims taken in accordance with the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this application, in which:

Fig. 1 is a view, partly in side elevation and partly in vertical section, of an assembled electric iron;

Fig. 2 is an exploded perspective view showing the principal parts of the electric iron;

Fig. 3 is a view showing a fiat plate from which a plurality of side pieces of the cover members are stamped;

Fig. 4 is a top plan view of the cover member, with a portion broken away, assembled on the soleplate; and

Fig. 5 is a sectional view of the assembled iron, taken along the line V-V of Fig. 4.

Referring to the drawings in detail, there is shown an electric iron, generally indicated by l0, having a soleplate II, a cover member [2 for the soleplate and a handle member l3 disposed above the cover member It. The soleplate ll may be of any standard construction and, in the example shown, has heating means ll of the flat pressure plate or sandwich type bolted to the soleplate ll. Also, if desired, a thermostat l5,

including an adjusting shaft, may be attached to the soleplate in order to maintain proper ironing temperature.

The handle member if is preferably made of a material which is a poor heat conductor, such as a phenolic resin. It comprises a grip portion I, which is held by the hand of the operator, and a skirt portion II which is located at the base of the grip and serves as a solid base for the handle and also to shield heat radiating from the soleplate to the hand of the operator.

The cover member l2, disposed between the soleplate and the handle, is formed in two parts, a side piece I, which is the exposed portion, and a top piece It, which is the unexposed portion. By exposed portion, I refer to that part of the cover visible on the assembled iron, and by unexposed portion, I mean that part of the cover which is covered and concealed by the skirt portion II. The side piece I] has inwardlyextending lugs or tabs II to which the top II is rigidly fastened, as will be described later.

In the assembled structure, the cover member I! is clamped to the soleplate H by nuts 23 threaded on bolts 2| and the cover is held in proper alignment by a groove or relief 25 at the outer periphery of the soleplate. This groove or relief II receives \and holds the bottom edge It of the side II. The handle I! is attached to the top ll of the cover if by means of bolts 21 and 28, as shown in Fig. 1, and it is held in proper alignment by a groove 28 disposed along the bottom of the skirt II, as shown in Figs. 1 and 5. This groove is so shaped as to receive the outer peripheral portion 30 of the top ll. The top edge ii of the side piece It is spaced from the skirt ll of the handle member in order to reduce direct heat conduction from the side piece to the handle member and to permit escape of heated air from under the top of the cover (see Figs. 1 and Also, the top is will serve as a baffle plate to reduce the radiated heat conducted to the handle member from the soleplate.

At the back or rear of the iron, there will be a portion of the soleplate not covered by the side piece II and, if it is desired to conceal this space,

' a clip 35 may be inserted between the skirt I1 and the cover II.

The method of producing the cover member will now be described. Referring to Fig. 3, there is shown a thin, flat plate 32 having a suitable surface which has been chromium or nickel plated, polished and buffed to its finished state. The plate 32 may be purchased in such completed form with paper covering to protect its finish. A punch and die (not shown) are used to cut out the side portion It as a flat plate and the spacing of the blanks or stampings will be such as to keep waste to a minimum. As shown, the stamping of the side piece It will be flat and will be V-shaped. Also, the tabs 20 and portions ii are formed integrally during the same operation.

After this stamping operation, the V-shaped piece it is placed in a jig and the front corner or point of the V, shown at 33, is bent rather sharply but not so sharply that the highly polished flnish will be damaged. After this, the blank is bent on a slow curve to conform to the shape of the outer edge of the soleplate and to the skirt of the handle. The ends 34 of the V- shaped side It are then bent inwardly approximately 90 degrees, to'at least partially cover the back of the iron.

It is to be noted that, although the side piece is bent to conform to the soleplate and the skirt of the handle and that the curvature of the bend varies' from the front to the back, at no point will the stamping be given a double curvature or bend. Each portion is bent about only a single axis and, therefore, has a straight line section in a plane containing such axis. In other words, after shaping, the side piece It will have a frusto-conical surf-ace of variable radius from the front toward the back of the iron (see Figs. 1 and 5). The tabs 20 are then bent inwardly and the portions 2| are bent upwardly. These tabs serve as means for supporting and rigidly fastening the top is to the side It and to space the top and side pieces from each other, thus reducing the direct heat conduction from the side piece to the top and to provide means for free circulation of cooling air beneath the top of the cover member and over the soleplate.

The top plate ll of the cover is also a stamping; however, it is made of a relatively inexpensive material, which provides good heat reflection, such as aluminum coated steel or aluminum.

This top plate I! is placed over the tabs 20 of the side piece It and, as shown, the upwardlyextending portions 2| are inserted through punched holes 22 in the top plate, after which the portion 2| of the tab extending above the top plate is twisted or bent to make a unitary rigid structure. The above-described fastening has a low manufacturing cost; however, other forms, such as welding or riveting, may be mployed as well.

Thus, it can be seen that I have produced a low cost cover construction which has eliminated costly hand labor required for the polishing and bufllng operation on the outer surface, and which has all portions not polished and bufied concealed by the skirt of the handle.

While I have shown my invention in but one form, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that it is not so limited, but is susceptible of various changes and modifications without departing from the spirit thereof.

What I claim is:

1. In a method of manufacturing a low cost cover member for an electric iron, said cover member being disposed between a soleplate and a handle member and having an exposed side portion and a top portion covered by the handle member, the steps of punching the exposed side portion with integral lugs from flat sheet metal stock which has been polished and buffed, bending the exposed side portion sharply at the center of the blank and then bending the remainder on a slow curve to conform to the contour of the soleplate and handle member, bending the outer ends of the blank inwardly so as to cover at least a portion of the rear of said soleplate and bending the integral lugs inwardly, cutting said top portion from other material, placing said top 'portion on the inwardly-extending lugs and attaching said top portion to the lugs to form a unitary cover member.

2. In a method of manufacturing a low cost cover member for an electric iron, said cover member being disposed between a soleplate and a handle member and having an exposed side' portion and a top portion covered by the handle member, the steps of polishing and buffing flat sheet metal stock to its finished luster, punching a V-shaped blank to form the exposed side portion from said finished flat stock with integral lugs, bending the V-shaped blank at the point of the V to conform to the front or nose of the REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this 'patent:

Number UNITED STATES PATENTS Name Date Schoenberg Feb. 19, 1924 Copeman June 14, 1938 Helirick Dec. 13, 1938 Clark Nov. 21, 1939 Scharf Jan. 9, 1940 Huffman Mar. 17, 1942 Bisley Mar. 24, 1942 Dickie Oct. 20, 1942 Schart May 25, 1943 Clark et a1. Nov. 2, 1943 Schart Apr. 10, 1945 

